Teat cup



L.. DINESEN Oct. 11, 1949.

TEAT CP Filed Feb. 7, 1944 Patented Oct. 11, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT oFPlcE TEAT CUP Laurits Dinesen, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application February 7, 1944, Serial No. 521,297

1 Claim. 1

being spaced from the former to provide therewith an annular outer chamber surrounding the teat receiving chamber. In milking machines employing this type of teat cup the inner teat receiving chambers are connected through milk tubes or lines to a suitable milk receptacle, and are subject to partial vacuum which tends to draw the milk from the teats and the outer chambers of the teat cups are alternately subject to partial vacuum and atmospheric pressure. The partial vacuum in the inner teat receiving chamber tends to withdraw milk from the teat and to collapse the inner shell or inflation about the teat, and produce a squeezing action on the teat, whereas the intermittent partial vacuum in the outer chamber intermittently neutralizes pressure on opposite sides of the flexible inner shell or infiation thereby producing an alternate contraction and expansion of the inner shell or inflation. The over-all result of this alternate expansion and contraction of the inflation is the producing of an intermittentI squeezing of the teat in a manner closely simulating the action produced under hand milking.

Teat cups of the general character referred to above are disclosed in my prior patents, 1,690,327 and 2,329,396. In these prior art teat cups the rigid outer shells were spun or stamped from metal, whereas the present invention relates particularly to teat cups of this general character wherein the rigid outer shells are formed by molding, and preferably by molding of plastic material,- such as Tenite or Bakelite The forming of these rigid outer shells ofl molded plastic material results in important production savings but does, nevertheless, introduce or aggravate certain problems, the solutions to which are the subject matter of the present invention. These and other important objects and advantages of the invention will'be made apparent from the following specification,l claim and appended drawings.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation, with some parts broken away and some parts shown in section, of a plurality of teat cups f the invention in operative position with respect to a cows udder and teats;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in axial section through one of theimproved teat cups;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary detailed sectional view showing, in full lines, how the milk passage through a milk tube of any one ofthe teat cups is automatically closed off when that teat cup comes free of the teat and is permitted to hang on the milk tube under the action of gravity, as shown by dottedlines in Fig. 1.

' The rigid outer shell of -a preferred embodiment of the present invention isV indicated as an entirety by 5, the.flexible and collapsable inne-r shell or ination is indicated in its entirety by 6, the inner teat receiving chamber byA 1, and the outer annular chamber formed between the inner and outer shells is indicated by'. The outer shell may be assumed to have been formed by molding of suitable plasticv material such as Tenite or Bakelite This rigid outer shell is open at both ends. At its upper end the said outer shell is formed with an annular outstanding sealing ange or shoulder 5a. The lower end portion of the rigid outer shell is downwardly contracted between its lower end to provide a reduced diameter discharge neck 5b.

At its lower end portion the rigid outer shell is also integrally formed to provide a downwardly and outwardly divergng air tube coupling nipple 9, the axial passage I0 of which, nipple, opens 4 through the converging lower portion of the outer shell 5 and into the converging portion of the annular outer chamber.

At this point attentionis directed particularly to my prior Patent 1,690,327, wherein it will be seen that the air passage through the outer shell to the outer annular chamber, and which is indicated by l2 in said prior patent, is located near the top of the annular outer chamber, and the connection thereto is made through a tube Il extending longitudinally along the outer wall of the outer shell and terminating in a nipple-like end positioned to closely correspond to that'of the nipple 9 of the present invention. The high location of the air passage to the outer annular chamber of my said prior patent was chosen because of the reduced tendency of the elastic inner shell or inflation to expand into contact with the outer shell at this point and close the passage to the inner chamber. However, the moldingr or casting operation involved in making the outer, shells of the present invention had made the high location of the air passage to the outer chamber impractical from the manufacturing point of view. Hence, before a commercially practical teat cup involving a molded plastic outer shell could be produced it was necessary to provide a construction whereby accidental closing oi of the air passage to the outer annular chamber by expansion of the inflation thereover would be eliminated. The solution to this particular problem forms an important object of the invention and comprises 1an rannular ilange II formed integrally with the rigid outer shell 5. This annular flange or shoulder II has its base immediately adjacent the point of entry into the outer chamber of the air passage IIJ, projects into said outer chamber 8. and preferably projects partially over the inner extremityof the passage lil. In other words, in the preferred construction the passage I opens `through lthe wall of the she-ll into an upwardly opening annular channel I2 radially outwardly of the flange I I. The function of this flange II in preventing accidental closing of the passage Il will be elabo-rated on after `a more complete description lof the flexible Yinner tube .orinflation.

The innertnbular shell orinilation' 'is provided at its open upperl end vwith'an inwardly yprojecting annular teat engaging sealing yflange 3 below which lthe said ination Vis formed with an elastic down-turned sealing 'ilange Hl that 'is stretched over the flanged upper end 5 of the outer shell and seals the upper end .of c'harnberil from the atmosphere. .Intermediate 'its ends the .inilation 6 is formed yon itsfouter surface with spaced outstanding lugs I5 and spaced outstanding ribs it. These lugs I5 and ribs. I6 project into the outer chamber 8 and are adapted. to come into engagement with the :outer shell l5 in anatternpt to vmaintain spacing between the inner and outer ,shells` underpulsating'airpressure conditions, and must beso spaced as to provide a continual `air pas-sage or passages from top to bottom of the chamberll. The lower end portion of the collapsible shell or inlationis contracted to more or less correspond.

to the contraction of the inner surface ofthe outer shell, and said inner 'tube or ini-lation S .is integrally formed at `its reduceddiameter .lower vend with a depending eXible milk tube 28. lIhis dependingmilktube 28 extends downwardly through the reduced diameter discharge neck v51C of .the outer shell and is provided .a't its .upper portion adjacent the main 'body of the inflation with. a series of circular ribs 'I8 'that engage the inner surface of therneck '5b with vexpanding .action to thereby secure the lower end of the annular 4chamber 8 from atmosphere. 'In'Fig '2 the entire milk tube 28 is shown asbeingjpulled through theneck 5b to the maximum extent, butin practiceit will be understood that more or l.less of .the ribbed portion .I8 of .the tube may be pulled 'through or into the neck 5h, depending in ,part upon the condition of the inlia'tion itself, which willbecome stretched to a greater or less ex'tent in use.

InFig. 1 the cows udder isindicatedlby a: and the four teats thereof 'byy and the complement of four teat cups is shown as 'being .applied as for a milking operation. 'The milking mechanism vto which the improved teat cups of the 1present .ine vention are Vconnectednay take various different forms but it maybe assumed .'forthe vpurpose .of the present example that such milking .mechanism is of the variety disclosed in my prior Patent 2,329g396, and therefore 'the milk .tubes 4from the inner teat cups and other `parts `of .thepresent disclosure lying below the outer shells. of '.the teat cups are or willfbe identied 4by Inumerals .corr

,channels 42. coupler head 29 may be assumed to be connected 4 responding to the numerals assigned to like parts in my said prior Patent 2,329,396. By reference to the drawings hereof, or for that matter to the drawings of my last identified prior patent, it will be seen that the depending milk tubes 28, which are in the nature of extensions of their respective inations, extend to a coupler head 29; each of said milk tubes 28 being telescoped over the head 36 of a different coupling nipple 35. The several nipples 35-a1lconnect within the coupler head to .a common V`collecting chamber 30 through ports 31 and grooves or ilow restricting The collecting chamber et! of the to a milk receptacle or pail, not shown, but which maybe orthe type indicated at 10 in my last said prior patent, by a nipple 3| and a common milk `tube 32. It may be further assumed that the tube 32 is subject to partial vacuum as in the case of my said prior patent, whereby to maintain the inner chambers `of the teat cups and the teats `yx thereof under partial Vacuum or suc.

tion, which will tend towithdraw milk from the teats and deliverjthe same .to themilk receptacle, and will tend to collapse therflexible inations.

The outer annular chambers 8 of the severalV teat cups are each connected to a different coupler head nipple 45 through .the medium of an independent flexible air tube or hose 21. The air tubes or hoses 21 are telescopically. applied over the nipples 45.and` 9 and connect to the outer teat cup chambers through .the passages Ill .of the nipplesjg. The nipples 45 oijthe coupler of which there are four, .may be assumed to ,be connected .through internalpassages of the coupler head 29 not shown, two thereof to a nipple 48 and two thereof to a nipple 41. These nippdes 41 and'48 are connected .each to .a different air line `or hose123, which air 'lines or hoses may be assumed to be connected, asin my lastsaid prior patent or otherwise, alternately to vacuum and atmospheric pressure through Vautomatic valve mechanism such as thev usual ,pulsaton not shown, whereby to intermittently. neutralize the col.-

f lapsing tendency of the inilations on the teats an'dzproduce on 'the teats an intermittent squeezingaction' simulating hand milking.

`'Under the vabove described expanding and contracting action of theinrlations or inner shells t there will obviously 'bea tendency for the inilation's pto expand over and .close 01T .the air passages I0, and this in spite of the fact that the original size and shape of the inations and the lugs I5 and ribshIB thereof jtend to prevent this eXtreme expansion. However, it will be understood that when lthe Ypassages I9 open into the outer chambersrof the teatcups close to the bottorn thereof, as inthe present case, the tendency of the Iinilations to close oi the Lpassages I@ 'in creases .as the integrally lformed `milk tubes 23 of the inflat-ions are pulled 'further through the necks 5b t0 compensate for-*stretching of the inations or otherwise. Furthermore, when these flexible, collapsable 'inflations, whichare usually of :rubber or lsynth'eticrubb'er, are subject to prolonged 7use vthey are laptito develop weak spots which will bulge andecont'act the'walls of the rigid outer-shells. -If' lsuchua bulge occurs at a point spaced iromthe va'ir .passageor .port 9 little or no diiiiculty is vapt to be encountered, -but if such a bulge should occur directly oppositethe point of entry of the passage 4:0 to the outer annular chamber ea complete blocking oliof this passage can vbe 'expected ato voccur ,-in the 'absence of some very effective meansv ,for .preventing .such :acci

, passage.

a bulge, such as indicated by 6', may cut off direct dental closing off of the passage I when such a bulge occurs over the same. In accordance with the present invention the ange ll is provided for this purpose and has been found wholly effective.

In the preferred construction illustrated, particularly in Fig. l, it Will be seen that the air passage I0 opens into the channel l2 formed by the protecting flange l, and which channel is completely circular and upwardly opens into the annular outer chamber 8 of the teat cup. With this construction if a bulge, such as indicated by dotted lines 6 in Fig. 2, should occur directly over the inner end of port or passage I0 the flange Il will prevent a complete blocking off of the said According to the illustration in Fig. 2

upward communication between the passage or port I0 and the outer chamber 8 without producing any serious results, since the passage I0 is in communication with the channel l2 back of flange Il, and since this channel I2 will be, even under these conditions, in upwardly opening communication with the annular chamber 3 throughout most of this circumference.

Another important feature of the invention will now be described. Occasionally a teat cup will come loose on the teat and fall during the milking operation, and when this happens it is desirable that the milk tube 28 of that teat cup be closed olf from atmosphere so that partial vacuum Will be maintained on the other teats, and to prevent the possible sucking into the inoperative teat cup of foreign matter. As in my prior Patent 2,329,396 this is accomplished automatically by diagonally cutting the head ends of the nipples 35 over which the lower ends of the inner milk tubes 28 are telescoped. The object of this arrangement is that when a teat cup falls under the action of gravity to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 the rubber milk tube 28 will be drawn over the open upper end of the nipple 35 and automatically close the same, as shown in Fig. 4. Hitherto the objection to this otherwise desirable feature was the necessity of using relatively heavy teat cups to produce the automatic closing oi action and which, due to their excessive weight, increased the tendency of the teat cups to come free of the teats and drop. In accordance with the present invention, the outer shells 5 are primarily made very light and are then weighted near their extreme upper ends by application of metallic bands 5. In practice, the metallic bands 5 are preferably somewhat heavier than the outer shells 5 to which they are applied, this at least when the outer shells are formed of very light plastic material. However, because the major weight of a teat cup is adjacent its extreme upper or outer end, the desired automatic closing action exemplified in Fig. 4 can be brought about with an over-all teat cup weight less than was required in prior art structures wherein the major weight of a teat cup was involved in a relatively very heavy metallic outer shell and was fairly well distributed from one end to the other.

I claim:

A teat cup for milking machines comprising a rigid tubular outer shell and an inflation in the nature of an elastic teatreceiving inner tubular shell, said inflation being open at its upper end to receive a teat and being formed at its lower end to provide an elastic integral milk tube extending through and beyond the outer shell, the inflation and rigid outer shell being connected at their opposite end portions to form air tight joints and being spaced apart intermediate said end joints to afford an annular air chamber therebetween, said outer shell being provided adjacent its lower end with an integral upwardly and inwardly directed flange forming an annular channel that opens upwardly into the said annular outer chamber, and said outer shell being provided with an air port opening therethrough into said upwardly opening annular channel, whereby to maintain communication between said port and said annular outer chamber under conditions of undue expansion of the inflation toward said port.

LAURITS DINESEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 950,145 Shafer Feb. 22, 1910 1,239,923 Leitch Sept. 11, 1917 1,312,941 Anderson Aug. 12, 1919 1,538,731 Oden May 19, 1925 2,099,884 Green Nov. 23, 1937 2,302,443 Hodsdon Nov. 17, 1942 

